This place definitely gives off the vibe of "The Land of Misfit Toys".
Nearly everyone here rents and most seem displaced. The condo complex seems less like a little community and more like a refugee camp. Everyone just seems so... downsized. Downsized by age or circumstance or the recession. Or relationships gone bad; there is an inordinate number of single women of a certain age here. And quite a few of those appear to have taken the next logical step... Cat Lady.
I see them, peaking warily out the windows as I walk the dogs. The cats, not the women. And the phenomena isn't evidently limited to this complex.
I had to run to CVS to pick up a prescription and decided to pick up a few sundries while I was there. As I approached the register I was bummed to see a line. It was only three people, but this was CVS, a company that apparently only hires people who find the Walmart application process too rigorous. Worse still, I hadn't bothered to wear my glasses, so I couldn't even peruse the tabloids while I waited. So to pass the time, I turned the attention to the woman in front of me.
She was probably late 40's and careworn. My guess was she was quite the looker back in the day, but she'd let herself go and now shuffled along in a velour track suit that had seen better days. And then I saw her cart.:
Two boxes of wine and ten pounds of cat litter and too many tins of Fancy Feast to count.
And that was it.
My heart went out to her, and then I glanced at the woman in front of her.
Same thing.
And the woman in front of her, too.
All three... Cat Women.
The quantities and brands differed, but all three had carts chock full of cheap booze, litter and cat food. And nothing else.
My first thought was absolute sadness. Actually, my first thought was... "are they having some sort of sale? On dog food too??" But my SECOND thought was absolute sadness.
We worked through the line and the woman in front of me finally reached the counter. "And gimme a carton of Virginia Slims" she growled, sounding like Brenda Vaccaro on a bad day. Well, there's that.
As she trundled out the door I thought to myself "there but for the Grace of God go I..."
But with dogs.
